Dude was my professor. He change the way I think about human nature and I somehow ended up studying linguistics and computer science as a result. Great teacher.
Yeah, he was my professor too. He failed me and I was expelled from school. Then I had to work at McDonald's. One day both my arms fell into the fry bin. Now I can even work at McDonald's! I have to type this out with my nose. Thanks professor.
ANALYSE THIS IN YOUR ANALYTICAL CRITICAL THINKING: MESSAGE TO THE AGENDA!!! STOP BEAMING MICHAEL J FOX... OR ELSE!!!! SAY NO TO BEAMED2FVCK SYNDROME NOW!!!
@Douglas Bull It's called a strong delusion and it is described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 11. I highly recommend you read the chapter in its entirety. Blessings to you!
One of the most brilliant talks I have ever experienced, very inspiring. I remember reading these chapters and as a kid, with the DK, Britannica, and so many encyclopedias which visualized science, nature, technology so beautifully. It inspired me to become an engineer and build these great things. Cut to being 26 years also and being very lost. Feels great to just come back to this and again feel uplifted.
You gotta love the subtlety of the camera editing. In the exact moment where he says "which explain why you and I are smaller than..." they select the shot where the people look colossally smaller than the place they are, giving the whole message an impressive weight to the point he is demonstrating... perhaps involuntary, but still beautifull
Wow! This video was AMAZING! Especially considering that it’s 11 years old looking where we are today in “Collective Learning “! It was worth every second!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
In the advent of chaos and confusion this world is becoming- here is a great reminder on the importance of sticking to our core. To be human and learning from our history; to be progressive and never stop learning; to collectively learning and inspire other; and not to be very resistant to changes.
I had the privilege of taking David Christian's class on Big History at Macquarie University in Australia. It is without exception the best class I ever took.
People fighting over the "creation of the universe", instead of focusing on how fragile we are, the lessons we can learn from big history, and what we should do to overcome the challenges ahead of us as a species. What a way to completely miss the point of the presentation.
Linda Westbrook In the Middle East. c. 855 CE, caliph al-Mutawakkil slaughtered the Arab intelligencia and, pretty much single-handedly ended the Arabic golden age. Islam has contributed almost nothing to science since that time. All fundamentalist religions are responsible for retarding our development.
Get over these petty arguments about who knows best and listen to the LESSONS IN THIS STORY: 1: Complexity arose from simplicity (You can argue all you want about how you believe this happened) 2: Complexity is vulnerable in a universe ruled by entropy 3: We are complex beings in a very complex world and this makes us extremely fragile. If we refuse to acknowledge and respect this vulnerability, complexity will break down. 4: We must use the powerful tool of collective learning - not to exploit the complexity of our world but to preserve it.
Indeed I'm not sure I'd like to support the next step of acquired complexity in the body of a unified, highly complex collective intelligence where humans are the bricks of it. I rather see such an evolved entity emerging from interconnected pure information elaborators... Humans were fit to create the conditions, now others will take over. A great catastrophe like the Yucatan asteroid may stimulate this process. Obviously as a dinosaur wouldn't love to see itself becoming a bird for the sake of human evolution, we may not desire to see nukes triggering the development of a higher level of complexity. But the question is: is that a law inscribed in the physics as the second principle? Is that somehow probable that complexity should arise (with low frequency of course) in the universe ? On Earth this may not happen but can we imagine that this events as infrequent as they are somewhere will necessary occur ? Yeah "lunch the bomb, exterminate them all" to favour inscribed evolution... May be!
Not sure how sincere your reply is, but it comes across as very dower and somewhat defeated. Humans have a great vulnerability but we also have the capacity for miraculous achievements. Science says we are but a step along the journey of evolution, faith says that evolution is worth heading towards.Even though society today seems completely backward, don't blind yourself to the fact that recently more and more people are speaking up and out about how we move forward. Let's save the nukes until that complexity doesn't require use to erased as part of the process.
If you watch this exceptionally insightful ted talk and then read this comment section, you will instantly loose some of your newfound hope in humanity.
This talk was beautiful, it was so informative, so mind blowing. I remember why I loved science and astronomy as a kid. I forgot, i kind of lost my way for a while, but now at 23 i am starting to remember that love of science that i always had.
Dear brother, you didn't lose your way :) Since puberty, till our frontal lobe finishes Its development (around your age, more or less), we all face one storm after the other inside our beings. Latch on into your love of science. If you become a scientist, great! If you don't, no problem. Even being a "regular" piece in today's society machine, staying in touch with science has the potential of expanding your consciousness and raising your awareness at a level that your ideas, choices, and behavior change. And this is how the world changes. Peace
Modern science is just recycled ancient science. Look into to the Sumerians (first civilization), how they explain how they learned science... Ancient Kemet, Holy Scriptures that introduce a lot of scientific facts first. Be blessed
A good teacher in the early days of a human can make him fall in love with any subject and it stays for the rest of ur life just like u never stop loving ur first girlfriend
I don't know what is more amazing, learning this or learning how to hold your breath for 17mins from David Blaine..... that could be, in itself reason for its own debate.
I have been postponing this video since so long and UA-cam kept recommending it. And now after 10 minutes of listening to him I think I have heard him in some documentaries as voice over.
Actually it is under obligation to do so. The Universe is based on the laws of physics and therefore must follow a line of reasoning that considers all aspects of science. This explanation failed that line of reasoning every time the author claims something happened that can't possibly be reproduced in a lab, which, in all vagueness is most of it.
@Ron "Actually it is under obligation..." No. It's not, and that sentence doesn't even make sense. "The Universe is based on the laws of physics..." No. It's not. The "laws" you speak of are based on observation of the Universe, it's not the other way around. And they aren't even really laws, they're just finely honed predictions. That CAN fail, and then...get improved. To be even more clear, I'm not correcting you because I think you're stupid, it's because you are either deluded by some cult...or dishonest. Because there are people who profit from deluding others. Naturally, any scientist would be seen as an "enemy" by such people.
This is gold. Humanity needs to unite. Learn to share resources and stop this idiocy with "money" and unreasonable consumption. All that energy stored in fat of over-consumption of resources and flaw is in the current system of resource distribution among global population.
This was a Ted talk worth watching. Mostly stuff we all know already but the emphasis on our fragility in the big picture was what made it engaging. We really do need to be good stewards of this precious planet we've been given.
I haven’t heard this concept described as “big history,” but it’s an appropriate name. What has always amazed me about “big history” is how such a chaotic processes developed such complex wonders as life and the human brain, and inspired those curious creatures to not only ask “how,” but “why.”
@@classicrocklover5615 exactly. Love how he flies right past the most important point......that all this unbelievable complexity came from nothing at all.....and how many of the ppl watching are so enamored by his presentation they don't even notice he's completely full of bs
@@classicrocklover5615 The universe is neither perfect nor by pure chance. Randomness requires determinism as they are 2 sides of the same coin. If you think your mind/thinking is separate from your brain, you may think that action in the world is separate from its' object.
I just watched this in May of 2019 and I am just blown away by this presentation! Once again, Thank you, TED! And, Dare I forget, Thank you, David Christian...I pray your grandson is well!
same here, and I am blown away that this only has 4.5M views not 4.5B if only the rest of the world would take interest and pride in the history of the universe. I do believe that we will soon push the planet to far to a "threshold" as David said, and it will change its own conditions to make it unlivable for the human race ;(
Then you'd be a plagiarizing busker. At least you would be helping spread information. You could also give credit where credit is due... at the end...?
I am a graduate in Mechanical Engineering. But only now I got a sensible comprehension of what entropy is all about. Entropy always created a huge intellectual barrier during my academic studies.
This comments section though. So many religious people seem to disagree with this guy even though he didn't develop any of the science in this video. He is just sharing established science with us.
Arben P. Susaj Nothing in science is proven except for mathematical proofs. Everything else in science is theory. Light is a theory. Atoms are theory. Gravity is a theory. Thermodynamics is theory. Everything in science other than math proofs can be proven wrong at any time if the right evidence is found.
sexyloser You seem to have a little confusion about scientific method. Theories are inductive, and can only be provisionally right. See Hume's comments on induction, and the fact that we are unsure about basic assumptions. Falsification, the disproof of theories, is not inductive, it's deductive, and is as sure as mathematics.
sexyloser Young theories, contentious amongst the scientific community and academia, are "established science" ?... It's funny how some people crave certainty about concepts beyond their understanding. PS: I'm not religious at all, but I disagree with you. #DFTBA
Alex Delarge Being established science does not mean it is certain. It means it is the best supported theory that we currently have. Like I said, nothing is certain in science except math and what has been proven wrong.
Love the Goldilocks moment concept. Love the Threshold moment and how we are vulnerable when we are in it concept. So good to be aware of how change happens and what to expect.
I imagine most of the people at that ted talk already know the basics of a history of our a world but they after admire the fantastic way he summerises it
The world didn’t believe the world was round until Christopher Columbus yet the Bible stated that fact thousands of years before Columbus was born. Case in point about collective knowledge.
@@killme6929 Only according to "St. Paul" can God ever be "foolish". It was his way of defending his nonsensical lies he was spreading about Jesus, and unfortunately he was successful; hundreds of millions have followed HIM rather than Jesus, and believed his blatant lies to be "the holy truth from God".
@@killme6929 Just ignore “killme6929”. These religious nutters have contributed nothing worthwhile to human culture. They were rich enough to pay for good art, mudic, architecture. But if they hadn’t, someone else would have. But as thinkers, they are zeros.
Hey I really like your profile picture and if you let me, I would make such an amazing mural out of it! If you don’t mind one of your post could be my inspiring muse for an art project i’m working on for a client. You will totally get paid for it as well as a bonus also get credits.
Thank you Mr. Christian. Everyone should see this at least a couple times a year to give us a sense of wonder and belonging. All of us share a history and all of us are family. We all need to learn to work together.
The best teachers aren’t necessarily the smartest-it’s the ones best able to distill the information to those who are less knowledgeable in a way they can understand. They are gems of society
This is my favorite TED talk. I can't stop watching a guy talk about all the things in the universe that had to go right, in order for me to be here and watch this video, and type this comment.
@@infiniteepoch8 Where did this divine agency come from? Oh right. That divine agency supposedly has always existed, the very same concept of eternity religious people ridicule when discussing trh Big Bang. That's what I hate about religious/divine explanations. They don't explain anything more about the grand mystery than simply, honestly, humbly (remember the religious instruction to be humble? Yeah so much for that) saying "we don't know at this time". Even worse, it stifles curiosity. We don't need a "God did it" non-explanation.
This is a fantastic video. I was watching some other video and right after it ended this one started and I had no interest in watching to so it was going to be background noise while I played a game on my phone...then slowly my interest started to grow. So glad I decided to watch this because I personally learned a good amount from what David was saying then I started learning more than what he was even talking about. At the end of his speech he said his reasons for being there was to teach the future generations (and I assume generations here now) and I must say, he couldn't have bullseye any harder lol. Amazing job *Clap clap clap*
@@nikkorocksalot5254 Well, the one being, to me, if we assume that at the point of Big Bang everything was spread (or condensed) evenly, and entropy works as assumed, why should there develop these clusters of slightly denser concentrations auf helium and hydrogen? Like, if you soluted alt in hot water, you wouldn't expect to see clusters of slightly higher concentrations of salt just randomly, I assume? And secondly, always more curiously to me, is the step from quite complex chemical compounds to hypercomlex chemical compounds that somehow have the ability to reproduce their own design. I mean, just - how? David Christian, in his narrative, puts it like, "Well how do you do this?" or "How do you accomplish that step?", and most interestingly, at 10:20 "Well, it's here that life introduces an entirely new trick" [referring to the spawn of DNA], which is A) like assuming that some entity outside the process oversees the process, and B) that consciousness ("life") exists even before the material that we assume generates consciousness (DNA, or life) existed. Personally, I tend to believe that the step from unconscious matter to "self-conscious" matter, in that it can reproduce and therefore to a minimal extend at least recognize itself or its own structure, is not explicable without any idea of a higher consciousness, or an entity outside the process overseeing, or at least enabling the process. Now, that is my personal assumption, and I am aware that other assumptions are equally valid, but to me at least this is the huge question. Just the how did it go from lifeless to life?
He goes "....and bangggg, we have a Universe!" . That's fine but he should have made it clear that we actually don't know what happened at that point. That's nothing to be embarrassed about . Science is not religion.
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Great talk. I always have a hard time remembering the time frames of the various epochs but I always like the three billion or so one where all life is single celled, it seems really cool that it took that long to form multicellular organisms and then in just a short eight hundred million years here we are.
How come every comment section on UA-cam is full of religious zealots, even if the video has nothing to do with God? Is "thou shalt preach on UA-cam" one of the ten commandments?
Socrates: I'm struck with the same thing. All I can conclude from the zealots' comments is that they're running scared, and find provocation even where there is none.
yscb1 It's tangentially related at best. This is a talk about the universe as we observe it, and there are people commenting just to say that observations are irrelevant and that they hate atheists. Imagine some people discussing cars, comparing models and manufacturers etc, when suddenly someone jumps in to say that cars are terrible, trains are much better, and people who like cars are assholes. Even if it were true, it's just not what they were discussing. It's tangentially related, but the comment doesn't contribute anything to the discussion. We have the same situation here. I admit I've seen worse cases of out-of-the-blue God comments, but it's clear that a lot of people just came here to shout "God!" and then proceed to the next science video to do the same there.
Fascinatingly put across... The Earth and entire Universe is magnificently created... We have to be the CARETAKERS of all... African Proverb puts it so succinctly : "Do not only worry about your children... worry about your children's children too.... " UBUNTU : "I Am because YOU are..." Fellow-feeling is essential in all we do...
Carl Sagan said all of this in 1980. Cosmos: A Personal Journey is the best television that our collective learning has produced. Sagan even made an apple pie to discuss the subatomic principles of chemistry, you need mushy eggs to do that...
What’s truly extraordinary is that nothing created something that is so complex that man can’t replicate it and to top it all off it’s all random, or meaningless.
Mush is a structure. CHAOS is an ILLUSION of the MIND. Order is like drawing a straight from 5 cards in a deck, mush is drawing unrelated cards. The deck has the same degree of organisation for both, its the human MIND that separates shapes it understands from those it doesn't.
Yes, it's like a chalkboard with long complex math equations viewed by an illiterate 7 year old child. When people don't understand something, they believe it doesn't make sense, it is illogical or random. If you zoom in on a wave file representing a song piece, it all looks like random waves going up and down, like a representation of an earthquake on a seismograph. Another example, if you speed up a video of a person dancing, it looks like the person is having random seizure attacks. I think in general what people call orderly is straight lines, or any shape that can be gotten from bending a straight line.
well there is also recognition of functional structure within certain patterns of energy and matter. maybe those are only recognized as such because of the bias of our bodies, but I think we'd be capable of objectively seeing function that could exist for other forms of life, and do so when observing extremophiles and the conditions in which they live. but maybe that is a more fundamental bias of the nature of our existence and we are incapable of understanding the value in different laws of physics in other universes or some form of consciousness that could exist in clouds of hydrogen and helium somehow. but if that is indeed the case, I'd wager it's only a matter of time until we can.
abcd efgh Yes, that's also likely why there's a sense of "objective morals", not because there is a god who arbitrarily set laws defining what's right and what's wrong, but because there's this certain "bias of the body", as you mention, that recognizes an "excellent" model of functioning, or an optimal structure that maximizes the processing of these energies (although the posterior result still remains occult). So, we don't know why life exists, we don't know the origins and we don't know the goals, but we can establish a "more correct" functioning nonetheless, by simply conceiving an ideological model of "well-being", which is precisely rated by the inherent corporal bias towards certain "energy patterns".
A fine clear-sighted summary. I personally think that multicellular organisms could have been given greater weight. For two billion years life was stuck at unicellular level before, apparently, mitochondria fell inside of archaea and the resultant symbiosis prospered. I think it's important too to consider what he said about collective learning being out of our control. Notice how influential large institutions are largely now a law unto themselves? The freedom of large corporations and intense global competition ensures that we will have no control over new AI, biotechnology, nanotechnology or quantum computing. Humans may only be a conduit for the Earth being able to send its material to other worlds before the Sun expands. This century looks like it will get harder as it goes.
I agree wholeheartedly, AlmostEthical. I don't remember him mentioning prokaryotes-to-eukaryotes either, FWIW. I personally feel the video amounts to "preaching to the choir". There's nothing here to convince anyone of anything, it is "merely" a highly-informative (and perhaps inspirational?) presentation.
Powerful message at the end. It's been 11 years since this got uploaded, seems Humans haven't learnt much from the mistakes we are making. We are more close to self destruction than ever before. May better sense prevails !
@@theresasquirestheresa : *So, the "18 minutes" is what made it awesome even though the content was far from reality? EH? The Scientific Community has created a deceptive mess and you applaud them. OK. They will never know, uncover or comprehend what they are seeking, futility is all that awaits them, this is already known and has been known. They are serving you as your High Priest and making you a prisoner of their brand of scientific theology made of unproven theories, this also is known. Science is going to need its version of the REFORMATION if it expects any credibility from the fictional nonsense they have been serving up to naive public.*
I wish he added that for this collective learning to work, we need to stop spreading false information, triple-check our facts, do not claim validity of some if we are unsure, stop having opinions about eeeeverything and stop bloody lying so much. Turn of your TVs, and watch more TED.
The good thing about being able to get publicity for lying is, if we have the method, to be able to identify those who do it and take appropriate action such as ignoring or confronting. It's much more dangerous to have censorship and quietude.
I agree. Triple check our facts. I know the perfect source. Did you know that 500 years ago it was a fact that the earth was flat? If only those who inhabited the earth then had triple check their facts, They would’ve discovered that the Bible stated the earth was round thousands of years before Columbus sailed to the Americas and proved the Bible as accurate, infallible and the Word of God. Life really is that simple
This guy is a guru , saint and a sage of the modern times . He has evolved to such heights the priests of this world should stop their crap and learn from him . It is all energy , frequencies and vibrations of the universe that manifests the myriad expressions in matter that we all experience in this brief individual existence of ours .......just my take on this .... but then again ...... Enjoy the beautiful ride together with love and compassion and gratitude , hurtling across the universe and be STILL folks .
His book is simply awesome tons of info with beautifully images, one of the best books you can get if interested in our history, where we came and formed to become this complexity.
@@mehrozbaig8444 Big History by David Christian. You can get it on Amazon, very cheap for amazon prime. It doesn't have the dynamic of a normal book, it has tons of information, each chapter talks about an specific subject, ( creation of the universe, how stars were made, how planets were made, each of those in different chapters,, etc) with awesome facts and quotes.
Our beautiful planet is not just threatened by man exploiting nature to the extent of destroying Goldilocks conditions. It is also threatened by man exploiting man to the extent that those exploited have reached a share equally or die threshold.
I love this expose, with many thanks! Little after 13:15, he could just mention (as means of enhancing the spread of knowledge and information), these: - the writing, with alphabets, - philosophy, - (then the cursive handwriting invented by Charlesmagne emperor), - then the books printing, invented by Guttenberg, - before computers and the net
The amazing rate of scientific discovery; since that video was made, we found out that Gold is mostly formed in the collision of neutron stars, rather than in supernovae.
What has science discovered? All science does is observe laws that are there already and we put it in a way for us to understand and manipulate. We are not discovering anything if it exists already?
Cue the black screen. Silence. Commentator: "...and then, BAM! The Big Bang occurs. Time begins, space begins, and then - BAM! - stars are born!" I wish I had known this explanation of how things began when I studied science in college. I could have aced every test, every equation, every question with ..."and then, BAM!" It makes perfect sense to me.
What do you expect from an 18 minute presentation? A deep examination of the competing theories about what, if anything, existed before the big bang and why it occurred, with commentary on the evidence and merits for each? Have you considered reading a book on the subject?
@Soviet Wanderer No, I expect more than "magic". His entire presentation is predicated by the second law of thermo and then he violates it over and over.
One little correction in his description of how dust clouds in space eventually form into solar systems including stars, planets and other bodies. It is not gravity that initially draws the small particles together, but rather it is electrostatic forces. They better explain how clouds of dust started condensing. Once enough of the space dust was thus pulled together, then gravity began to be a stronger force and caused the stars, planets and other bodies to be formed.
There's a ton of "little corrections" throughout the video. I know he is limited on time, but he says all of this like it is fact with no room for error or disagreement, but in reality, most of it is likely not exactly like he says. Like do we really think that it is possible for everything in all of the universes fit inside something that was smaller than an atom. Come on ... there is no evidence of that and it is not at all practical.
@@googleuser3173 Interesting. I will look into this more. I have a chemistry background, so I cannot wrap my head around the fact that there was matter but no atoms/elements?? Matter has to be made of something, but it wasn't until the universe expanded did their become atoms, but there was really dense and hot stuff that magickly got there. I just can't see it all, but I am interested in this CMB radiation.
Excelente talk. The perfection of the complexity that made us what we are. I would’ve given him one more minute so he could’ve started a minute before “nothing”
Not a religious nut, but I have some questions. Where did all that "bam" come from at 4:28? How did all the matter gather together to create the "bam?" If there was nothing before the "bam," what exploded? How is it we know those answers? If an object is spinning in one direction and it explodes, the pieces which break off would spin in the same direction. Why do we observe moons, planets, solar systems, galaxies spinning in all kinds of directions relative to Earth? If a hand grenade explodes in a field, can the exploded pieces ever collide in mid air or do they get progressively further apart? Like I said, I'm not a religious nut. I do however think it's unfair to label people who ask questions like this a Bible thumper. There's a breakdown in the scientific method when it becomes okay to ask how things happened but not okay to inquire as to if they even happened.
The explanation in this video is a bit oversimplified, i'll try to explain what science know today about birth of our universe to the best of my ability. First, the best word to use is not "explosion" but "expansion", since in current theory about origin of universe it expanded from singularity (a location with infinite density and zero volume) after Plank's time (10^-37 seconds) at exponential rate. It is known by analyzing cosmic microwave background and light that is coming from other stars (google redshift on wiki to get more information about this phenomena) and building models which can explain data found from this. Before Plank's time our current understanding of the laws of nature breaks down and now the most honest answer about nature of singularity is that we don't know much about it (though there are a couple of hypothesis, of course). About people asking questions, there is no "breakdown" like you described in scientific method and it always okay to ask questions (that was science is about after all). It's just some people get angry or impatient when people ask questions about something without seeking what our current scientific understanding of what we know about this phenomena. Sometimes people even misinterpret (some deliberate, some not) what science say about this phenomena and start to say that science is wrong, and this is often happens in discussions about evolution theory for example. So people usually say "Bible thumper" about someone who didn't bother to read any scientific literature and just repeat misconceptions that he was told, also most such people are very unoriginal about it and hearing same question over and over can be...well, frustrating. I hope my answers were satisfactory, if you have any other question, i'll be glad to answer them
***** Well, now i know. Also, english is a third language for me and i don't understand what does knowing how to spell certain names in it have to do with understanding scientific concepts.
***** Typos don't bother me too much. Everyone makes a mistake now and then - even you, I suspect. Names aren't the important thing here, anyway. It was an excellent comment, don't you think? Why criticize it on something so petty?
Wow, you two need to take it down a notch and grow up. I do however understand why you are both so upset. In my experience these conversations inevitably mutate into a science vs. religion debate. Like with all mutations, non-are beneficial. My contention is that this is an argument between religion and religion. How else could we explain how easily tempers get flared? I prefaced my initial questions by saying, “I’m not a religious nut,” yet someone still found it expedient to ask me where God came from…did they miss something? I should however further preface my position by saying while I may not be a religious nut, that shouldn’t be interpreted that I don’t believe the Bible and the scientific observations it contains. My position is that I find no contradiction between all the Biblical accounts and science when the scientific method is applied. Meanwhile my initial question is still standing unanswered. Are we the scientific community somehow ignorant of what happened before Planck time? The origin debate is always a religious one. What I mean by origin is the point or place where someone or something begins or is derived from. It takes a certain amount of faith to believe in creation and as well as an event like the BIG bang or the captain Crunch theory or whatever they’re calling it these days. My point it this. Even using techniques like trigonometric-parallax, which calculates distance; it’s still calculating distance and not time. A light year is not a measurement of time it’s a measurement of distance. I made up my own measurement of distance and it’s called a Michael Minute. It’s the measurement of how far the super market is from my house in relation to how long it takes for me to run there. The distance to the store has remained the same but the time it takes me has increased, as I’ve gotten progressively more and more out of shape. It’s said that trig parallax is only viable up to about 100 light years (and that’s stretching it…pun intended). The reason for this is angles are indecipherable at anything past that distance. Picture a triangle with the base being represented as a straight line. Using the solar diameter of earth’s orbit as the base for our triangle while earth is on either side of the sun, that base would be 16 light minutes across. If we were to look out into space only 1 light year from that base, it would be the equivalent to having two guys on top of your house 16 inches apart from each other looking at a point 8.5 miles away. That would make a tremendously skinny triangle. So to say the something like, “we can look into a telescope and accurately determine how old the universe is,” is really an act of faith. Most scientists agree that the universe is expanding, and it may be, however, even if it is expanding that still doesn’t proves it’s billions of years old. To suggest that it is, is an interpretation of the observation of red shift. To assume that rate of expansion (aka, the frequency of light) has always remained a constant is a faith based assumption. Let’s try some logic, it’s accepted that the moon is slipping away from the earth's gravitational field by 1.5 inches a year. That may or may not be true. However, if that rate has remained that same, do the math, where would that place the moon a million years ago, forget 14 billion? Some interpret the observation of red shift as a way to prove that the universe is expanding, and some interpret it as (tired light). Photons of light from distant galaxies have a longer wavelength on arrival than when they set off. For a particular wavelength, galaxies twice as far away undergo twice the increase in wavelength. This is the experimental evidence; the rest is down to how scientists interpret these results. As the frequency reduces the wavelength increases and thus the photons are red-shifted. Photons of light from galaxies twice as far away travel twice as far through the intergalactic medium, undergo twice as many collisions with the electrons, lose twice as much energy, have their frequency reduced by twice as much and their wavelength increased by twice as much. Hence galaxies twice as far away have twice the redshift. Doesn't this make more sense than an expanding universe stretching the photons? The universe is probably billions of light years wide if not more, however it’s hocused pocus to say we can measure those distances using trig parallax. We also don’t know that the speed of light has remained a constant. At MIT a few years ago they slowed down light to zero miles per hour. In order to determine an age for the universe by these methods one would need to “know” what the furthest point in the universe is and then “know” that it’s getting further away and then “know” that the rate it’s moving away has always been the same, and then “know” that the light’s wavelength is the same in our telescope lenses as it was at it’s point of origin Those are a lot of unknowns and because they’re unknown anyone who speaks about them as if they’re science is no different than the people who believe that the earth was created in six literal days. The only difference between those people that I’m aware of is that one claims to be the voice of science by condemning anything outside of their indoctrinated worldview. I call someone who believes in the BIG bang “indoctrinated” because that is the only side that’s ever been explained (scientifically) to them. If all you’ve ever heard is one side of the argument you’d be foolish to call your understanding of the topic education, it could most aptly be characterized as indoctrination. Education tends to be biased and always in favor of politics. If you were a professor at a university in Soviet Russia during the 1950's and you stood up and said, "I think communism is bad, I think capitalism is right," you would at least be fired, and in all actuality probably executed for treason. Sound familiar? Question- what would happen to the professor of a science class if he/she decided not to teach the BIG bang theory? Answer… they would be fired for sure, and quite possibly labeled an intellectual pariah, (so they get with the program and teach the material, any sane “normal” person would). However, just because something is taught doesn’t make it a fact. (Flat earth, sun moves around the earth, bloodletting, macro-evolution etc.).
You know that it doesn't. You can try to convince yourself that it does , but you're just a religious nut trying to bring people that think for themselves down to your level. Go put your hands together and talk to yourself.
Matt R There's a reason your idiotic beliefs are banned from being taught in schools. What do you think that reason is? Why do you think evolution is taught over intelligent design?
Dude was my professor. He change the way I think about human nature and I somehow ended up studying linguistics and computer science as a result. Great teacher.
Yeah, he was my professor too. He failed me and I was expelled from school. Then I had to work at McDonald's. One day both my arms fell into the fry bin. Now I can even work at McDonald's! I have to type this out with my nose. Thanks professor.
Can't (=cannot)
ANALYSE THIS IN YOUR ANALYTICAL CRITICAL THINKING:
MESSAGE TO THE AGENDA!!!
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SAY NO TO BEAMED2FVCK SYNDROME NOW!!!
Diss red😮 green green uxr😂y 😂
We don't afford these proffesors lecture,,,,, just bcz yutube we can hear it a little... so thank u...
Now it’s 2020 and it seems very obvious that we have not learned to appreciate just how precarious our existence actually is.
Or we have forgotten!
steven oliver That’s probably more accurate
Share what we learned that will be the day
@Douglas Bull >> Einstein's comment. But I prefer another of his: "You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it."
@Douglas Bull It's called a strong delusion and it is described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 11. I highly recommend you read the chapter in its entirety. Blessings to you!
I looked away for a second and I missed 2 billion years
Bravo bhaha
***** approximately. Error bars would help if you want to be taken seriously.
***** approximately. Error bars would help if you want to be taken seriously.
Mike Llerena Amazing how time flies by
you made a valid point mentioning the proper amount of time
One of the most brilliant talks I have ever experienced, very inspiring. I remember reading these chapters and as a kid, with the DK, Britannica, and so many encyclopedias which visualized science, nature, technology so beautifully. It inspired me to become an engineer and build these great things. Cut to being 26 years also and being very lost. Feels great to just come back to this and again feel uplifted.
You gotta love the subtlety of the camera editing. In the exact moment where he says "which explain why you and I are smaller than..." they select the shot where the people look colossally smaller than the place they are, giving the whole message an impressive weight to the point he is demonstrating... perhaps involuntary, but still beautifull
Wow! This video was AMAZING! Especially considering that it’s 11 years old looking where we are today in “Collective Learning “! It was worth every second!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
In the advent of chaos and confusion this world is becoming- here is a great reminder on the importance of sticking to our core. To be human and learning from our history; to be progressive and never stop learning; to collectively learning and inspire other; and not to be very resistant to changes.
I had the privilege of taking David Christian's class on Big History at Macquarie University in Australia. It is without exception the best class I ever took.
Its terrible and science unworthy. He explains things with: ‘because of magic’.
Me too!! So good.
I just wonder what specie is going to dominate earth after we destroy ourselves
@@Esico6 why don't you choose to believe in magic?
People fighting over the "creation of the universe", instead of focusing on how fragile we are, the lessons we can learn from big history, and what we should do to overcome the challenges ahead of us as a species.
What a way to completely miss the point of the presentation.
sniper grenade yes, there are many hardcore nuts in USA.
sniper grenade Because people are idiots!
Linda Westbrook In the Middle East. c. 855 CE, caliph al-Mutawakkil slaughtered the Arab intelligencia and, pretty much single-handedly ended the Arabic golden age. Islam has contributed almost nothing to science since that time. All fundamentalist religions are responsible for retarding our development.
Scary how minds of beings similar to you and I are being ruled by a tithe of emotions. Big history = big history.
Why ?
All the chaos and complexity in the universe and now I'm just here eating cookies and watching youtube.
What a crazy world.
hahah
lol
You are the pinnacle of evolution, William.
Couldn’t make it up if you tried!
I was literally reaching into a bag of Chips Ahoy! when i read this comment!
Freaky.
Get over these petty arguments about who knows best and listen to the LESSONS IN THIS STORY:
1: Complexity arose from simplicity (You can argue all you want about how you believe this happened)
2: Complexity is vulnerable in a universe ruled by entropy
3: We are complex beings in a very complex world and this makes us extremely fragile. If we refuse to acknowledge and respect this vulnerability, complexity will break down.
4: We must use the powerful tool of collective learning - not to exploit the complexity of our world but to preserve it.
*launch the nukes*
And such is the human way.
Indeed I'm not sure I'd like to support the next step of acquired complexity in the body of a unified, highly complex collective intelligence where humans are the bricks of it. I rather see such an evolved entity emerging from interconnected pure information elaborators... Humans were fit to create the conditions, now others will take over. A great catastrophe like the Yucatan asteroid may stimulate this process. Obviously as a dinosaur wouldn't love to see itself becoming a bird for the sake of human evolution, we may not desire to see nukes triggering the development of a higher level of complexity.
But the question is: is that a law inscribed in the physics as the second principle? Is that somehow probable that complexity should arise (with low frequency of course) in the universe ? On Earth this may not happen but can we imagine that this events as infrequent as they are somewhere will necessary occur ?
Yeah "lunch the bomb, exterminate them all" to favour inscribed evolution... May be!
Not sure how sincere your reply is, but it comes across as very dower and somewhat defeated. Humans have a great vulnerability but we also have the capacity for miraculous achievements. Science says we are but a step along the journey of evolution, faith says that evolution is worth heading towards.Even though society today seems completely backward, don't blind yourself to the fact that recently more and more people are speaking up and out about how we move forward. Let's save the nukes until that complexity doesn't require use to erased as part of the process.
that may be the best reply ive ever read to any video ever
I used this class for my final exam as an interpreter and I can't believe how deep it touched my soul!! Mindblowing!
Wow! How did it go? I am sincerely asking as a freshman of translation and interpreting studies :D
Its terrible and science unworthy. He explains things with: ‘because of magic’.
@@Esico6 like religion right?
If you watch this exceptionally insightful ted talk and then read this comment section, you will instantly loose some of your newfound hope in humanity.
loose it, eh?
Wil Dip oh sorry, I’ll loose it
@@greglyne5362 its looose it you idiot you have to add the extra o to make it an ooo sound :V
lose hope in people like you
Loosers
This talk was beautiful, it was so informative, so mind blowing. I remember why I loved science and astronomy as a kid. I forgot, i kind of lost my way for a while, but now at 23 i am starting to remember that love of science that i always had.
Do you have great cousins?
Dear brother, you didn't lose your way :) Since puberty, till our frontal lobe finishes Its development (around your age, more or less), we all face one storm after the other inside our beings. Latch on into your love of science. If you become a scientist, great! If you don't, no problem. Even being a "regular" piece in today's society machine, staying in touch with science has the potential of expanding your consciousness and raising your awareness at a level that your ideas, choices, and behavior change. And this is how the world changes.
Peace
Tariq Khan, youre only 23, you havent developed "a way" to lose yet.
Modern science is just recycled ancient science. Look into to the Sumerians (first civilization), how they explain how they learned science... Ancient Kemet, Holy Scriptures that introduce a lot of scientific facts first.
Be blessed
A good teacher in the early days of a human can make him fall in love with any subject and it stays for the rest of ur life just like u never stop loving ur first girlfriend
I don't know what is more amazing, learning this or learning how to hold your breath for 17mins from David Blaine..... that could be, in itself reason for its own debate.
I have been postponing this video since so long and UA-cam kept recommending it. And now after 10 minutes of listening to him I think I have heard him in some documentaries as voice over.
i love how this man loves the story he tells, so passionate!
He is waste fello
You are so pretty, honey.
His speech is just a theory. In fact there are more dimensions. Please read the work of the Noble price winner in physics, Richard Feynman.
A lot of theories communicated like if they were absolute truth.
So passionately delusional that he believes himself
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you" - NDT
Actually it is under obligation to do so. The Universe is based on the laws of physics and therefore must follow a line of reasoning that considers all aspects of science. This explanation failed that line of reasoning every time the author claims something happened that can't possibly be reproduced in a lab, which, in all vagueness is most of it.
OneShot AtLyf bless u
@Ron
"Actually it is under obligation..."
No. It's not, and that sentence doesn't even make sense.
"The Universe is based on the laws of physics..."
No. It's not. The "laws" you speak of are based on observation of the Universe, it's not the other way around. And they aren't even really laws, they're just finely honed predictions. That CAN fail, and then...get improved.
To be even more clear, I'm not correcting you because I think you're stupid, it's because you are either deluded by some cult...or dishonest.
Because there are people who profit from deluding others. Naturally, any scientist would be seen as an "enemy" by such people.
Reese Torwad u right
Then why did you watch this????
This is gold. Humanity needs to unite. Learn to share resources and stop this idiocy with "money" and unreasonable consumption. All that energy stored in fat of over-consumption of resources and flaw is in the current system of resource distribution among global population.
+Krowwweee Tell that to all the hot headed country leaders... sigh, sometimes I just wish I could just choke half of them...
+Krowwweee Our evolution is not about competition, it is about connection, we are stuck in the 19th century.
This was a Ted talk worth watching. Mostly stuff we all know already but the emphasis on our fragility in the big picture was what made it engaging. We really do need to be good stewards of this precious planet we've been given.
I haven’t heard this concept described as “big history,” but it’s an appropriate name.
What has always amazed me about “big history” is how such a chaotic processes developed such complex wonders as life and the human brain, and inspired those curious creatures to not only ask “how,” but “why.”
And that it all supposedly happened, perfectly, by chance. That Life was not intentional, but rather a cosmic fluke...
@@classicrocklover5615 exactly. Love how he flies right past the most important point......that all this unbelievable complexity came from nothing at all.....and how many of the ppl watching are so enamored by his presentation they don't even notice he's completely full of bs
@@classicrocklover5615 The universe is neither perfect nor by pure chance. Randomness requires determinism as they are 2 sides of the same coin. If you think your mind/thinking is separate from your brain, you may think that action in the world is separate from its' object.
Read Bible, you'll understand everything.
Jesus is Coming Soon
I encourage you to look at conway’s game of life and consider these questions!
Fantastic TED talk. I love it. A beautiful ode to complexity.
His voice makes even talking about eggs so interesting. Bravo!
He never did tell us which came first, the chicken or the egg?
It's his accent, just like David Attenborough's
@@killme6929 eggs 😂😂
Such a powerful oration . 17 minutes of pure genius.
Or madness
“Genius”. Really? I don’t see anything original here. It is well done.
I just watched this in May of 2019 and I am just blown away by this presentation! Once again, Thank you, TED! And, Dare I forget, Thank you, David Christian...I pray your grandson is well!
same here, and I am blown away that this only has 4.5M views not 4.5B if only the rest of the world would take interest and pride in the history of the universe. I do believe that we will soon push the planet to far to a "threshold" as David said, and it will change its own conditions to make it unlivable for the human race ;(
This Isn’t possible, in you’re very beginning illustration you clearly demonstrated cannot get order out of chaos here it is impossible!
His enthusiasm is so inspiring
Imagine, learning this by heart and making it a street act.
That's already what it is....an act
Seriously.
So stupid! So dumb! So a BIG lies!
*Only 18+* 👇👇👇 🔞
11768138.sexygirlsx.ru
Then you'd be a plagiarizing busker.
At least you would be helping spread information.
You could also give credit where credit is due... at the end...?
I am a graduate in Mechanical Engineering. But only now I got a sensible comprehension of what entropy is all about. Entropy always created a huge intellectual barrier during my academic studies.
What did you learn ?
No I didn't
His eyes speak! Such a wonderful presentation!
This comments section though. So many religious people seem to disagree with this guy even though he didn't develop any of the science in this video. He is just sharing established science with us.
Arben P. Susaj Nothing in science is proven except for mathematical proofs. Everything else in science is theory.
Light is a theory. Atoms are theory. Gravity is a theory. Thermodynamics is theory. Everything in science other than math proofs can be proven wrong at any time if the right evidence is found.
sexyloser You seem to have a little confusion about scientific method. Theories are inductive, and can only be provisionally right. See Hume's comments on induction, and the fact that we are unsure about basic assumptions. Falsification, the disproof of theories, is not inductive, it's deductive, and is as sure as mathematics.
gamesbok Yes, we can and have proven things to be wrong in science. We can never prove what is right in science, unless it is a mathematical proof.
sexyloser Young theories, contentious amongst the scientific community and academia, are "established science" ?...
It's funny how some people crave certainty about concepts beyond their understanding.
PS: I'm not religious at all, but I disagree with you. #DFTBA
Alex Delarge Being established science does not mean it is certain. It means it is the best supported theory that we currently have.
Like I said, nothing is certain in science except math and what has been proven wrong.
I kept waiting for the part with "THE SUN - IS A DEADLY LAZER!"...but it never came :(
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Give it 5 billion years more
Dang mate/bro, you have 69 likes...... be proud of yourself
Lolololollllll
Yoooo is this a reference to that video I can vaguely recall. I gotta go search for that now!
This is hands-down admittedly the best TED Talk I've ever seen
Love the Goldilocks moment concept. Love the Threshold moment and how we are vulnerable when we are in it concept. So good to be aware of how change happens and what to expect.
I imagine most of the people at that ted talk already know the basics of a history of our a world but they after admire the fantastic way he summerises it
Thank you for posting this, TED.
Jonathan Michael
Thank you. But I did not post this and my name is not Ted.
TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design
Jonathan Michael nm.
Jonathan ”Michael
Dope Fiend. No its not means hes real and not a fake bot
Absolutely fantastic Ted, could not take myself away from the screen for a sec!
This presentation opened me up to a whole new world of big history ... thank you TedTalk and UA-cam
I like that: “complexity means vulnerability and fragility”. I’d very much like to hear the rest of this, at some point! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much. Big History is a vital area to increase consciousness for global cooperation.
Can we talk about the fact that his PowerPoint was a threshold in human complexity. Brilliant!
The darkest, emptiest place you can think off..
My ex's soul.
Brandon Lee 😂
Pinoy to hahah
Souls don't exist so you need to think of something else.
you are right
@@BXJ-mi9mm It's a joke.
And a very good one I might add.
Video first published in April 2011, I watched in November 2019.
Case in point about collective knowledge.
Watching it again in 2020. This video will be relevant until our eventual extinction because time.
@@rehustler actually. People might laugh at this video in 100 years or less
I just watched in 2020, got halfway thru and wondered how I can get that time back. What a waste of time and space. Hey, that's funny!
@@lfidarraga Yup, case in point: Could the Big Bang Be Wrong?
www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/could-the-big-bang-be-wrong
The world didn’t believe the world was round until Christopher Columbus yet the Bible stated that fact thousands of years before Columbus was born. Case in point about collective knowledge.
What a brilliant mind! And he's just bursting with passion for his field! So admirable.
God’s foolishness is man’s wisdom
@@killme6929 Only according to "St. Paul" can God ever be "foolish".
It was his way of defending his nonsensical lies he was spreading about Jesus, and unfortunately he was successful; hundreds of millions have followed HIM rather than Jesus, and believed his blatant lies to be "the holy truth from God".
@@killme6929 Just ignore “killme6929”. These religious nutters have contributed nothing worthwhile to human culture. They were rich enough to pay for good art, mudic, architecture. But if they hadn’t, someone else would have. But as thinkers, they are zeros.
Thanks I needed to Speedrun history for my finals today.
Hey I really like your profile picture and if you let me, I would make such an amazing mural out of it! If you don’t mind one of your post could be my inspiring muse for an art project i’m working on for a client. You will totally get paid for it as well as a bonus also get credits.
Hi you're on a rock floating in space
pretty cool hun?
Some of it's water.
Rustam Klekit actually, most of it it’s water
I can't even get from here to there without buying a boat.
Gonçalo Rodrigues de Ávila i’m sad
5.5k people expected him to say god atleast once XD
:) I think you are spot on!
Very witty!
A large group of men can spend a very long time building an immense physical structure without ever mentioning the word architect.
Yawn! God....that's so last Millenia.
@@pathfinder1273 Don't have to. Architect's name/company will be on the building permit outside the construction site. False equivalence
Thank you Mr. Christian. Everyone should see this at least a couple times a year to give us a sense of wonder and belonging. All of us share a history and all of us are family. We all need to learn to work together.
Should we work together because we're family? How did you infer moral here?
@@mortensimonsen1645 Classic Morten!!
The best teachers aren’t necessarily the smartest-it’s the ones best able to distill the information to those who are less knowledgeable in a way they can understand.
They are gems of society
Peter
Of all the UA-cam videos I have ever watched this one really and deeply hits home.
This is my favorite TED talk. I can't stop watching a guy talk about all the things in the universe that had to go right, in order for me to be here and watch this video, and type this comment.
Im a Christian
@@oshayrogan9334 ...and???
@jester...now you getting it.
@@Jferk1107 and...hes gone quiet in deep reflection.
Lack of understanding is not proof of magic.
Or god
Lack of magic is not proof of understanding
Well said
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke
@@infiniteepoch8 Where did this divine agency come from? Oh right. That divine agency supposedly has always existed, the very same concept of eternity religious people ridicule when discussing trh Big Bang. That's what I hate about religious/divine explanations. They don't explain anything more about the grand mystery than simply, honestly, humbly (remember the religious instruction to be humble? Yeah so much for that) saying "we don't know at this time". Even worse, it stifles curiosity. We don't need a "God did it" non-explanation.
Now this is what I call 2 a.m quality content
This is a fantastic video. I was watching some other video and right after it ended this one started and I had no interest in watching to so it was going to be background noise while I played a game on my phone...then slowly my interest started to grow. So glad I decided to watch this because I personally learned a good amount from what David was saying then I started learning more than what he was even talking about. At the end of his speech he said his reasons for being there was to teach the future generations (and I assume generations here now) and I must say, he couldn't have bullseye any harder lol. Amazing job *Clap clap clap*
Title of the video should read "How to evade the most crucial questions when explaining the universe and life".
Depends on what you view as a crucial question
Can you tell us what it means to you?
Well said
And.....?
@@nikkorocksalot5254 Well, the one being, to me, if we assume that at the point of Big Bang everything was spread (or condensed) evenly, and entropy works as assumed, why should there develop these clusters of slightly denser concentrations auf helium and hydrogen? Like, if you soluted alt in hot water, you wouldn't expect to see clusters of slightly higher concentrations of salt just randomly, I assume? And secondly, always more curiously to me, is the step from quite complex chemical compounds to hypercomlex chemical compounds that somehow have the ability to reproduce their own design. I mean, just - how? David Christian, in his narrative, puts it like, "Well how do you do this?" or "How do you accomplish that step?", and most interestingly, at 10:20 "Well, it's here that life introduces an entirely new trick" [referring to the spawn of DNA], which is A) like assuming that some entity outside the process oversees the process, and B) that consciousness ("life") exists even before the material that we assume generates consciousness (DNA, or life) existed. Personally, I tend to believe that the step from unconscious matter to "self-conscious" matter, in that it can reproduce and therefore to a minimal extend at least recognize itself or its own structure, is not explicable without any idea of a higher consciousness, or an entity outside the process overseeing, or at least enabling the process. Now, that is my personal assumption, and I am aware that other assumptions are equally valid, but to me at least this is the huge question. Just the how did it go from lifeless to life?
He goes "....and bangggg, we have a Universe!" . That's fine but he should have made it clear that we actually don't know what happened at that point. That's nothing to be embarrassed about . Science is not religion.
This was a pleasure to watch. Great talk
In Spanish there is a slang term roughly pronounced "tokayo" it means person of the same name. I got to meet my tokayo at the end of the video. Cool.
A bookmarks for youtube videos. Get the extension. It really does save time. And it's free: chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/threelly-smartview-for-yo/dfohlnjmjiipcppekkbhbabjbnikkibo
Great talk. I always have a hard time remembering the time frames of the various epochs but I always like the three billion or so one where all life is single celled, it seems really cool that it took that long to form multicellular organisms and then in just a short eight hundred million years here we are.
⁰
Then God said, "Let there be light": and there was light.
@@augustinekt9304 You are a glowing example of the idiocy of organized religion.
I have had the luck to meet him and talk with him, as part of Big History Project.
I met the queen but I don't go on and on about it...:)
That must be an interesting project to be involved in!
@@ShivaniiMLP Actually it is a course. In India only a few schools have it, and one is ours. So he came to our school to attend an annual programme.
@@barniestormer6698 Sorry 😔.
I met him and it was so cool. He truly is a smart man.
Concise and yet excellent talk, Mr. David Christian. I thank you...
Is he crazy or what??? No, I mean he IS a deranged lunatic. Read the Bible, stupid. Go to YOUR roots, David, go to your surname heritage.
One of the best TED talks ever.
How come every comment section on UA-cam is full of religious zealots, even if the video has nothing to do with God? Is "thou shalt preach on UA-cam" one of the ten commandments?
Socrates: I'm struck with the same thing. All I can conclude from the zealots' comments is that they're running scared, and find provocation even where there is none.
Hang on, how is this not closely related to God or at least a neighbouring theory to God? I say it's fairly close, I'm surprised that you disagree.
yscb1 It's tangentially related at best. This is a talk about the universe as we observe it, and there are people commenting just to say that observations are irrelevant and that they hate atheists.
Imagine some people discussing cars, comparing models and manufacturers etc, when suddenly someone jumps in to say that cars are terrible, trains are much better, and people who like cars are assholes. Even if it were true, it's just not what they were discussing. It's tangentially related, but the comment doesn't contribute anything to the discussion. We have the same situation here.
I admit I've seen worse cases of out-of-the-blue God comments, but it's clear that a lot of people just came here to shout "God!" and then proceed to the next science video to do the same there.
Okay, I think I agree with you.
lol
Are we smart enough to survive? That is the question.
you are right
Sandra K
More specifically, can we learn to resolve conflicts of interest without combat to the death among the parties
Selfish gene states your question a false proposition.
We are going to die, most humanity in next 100 years.
Fighting/conflict is a natural part of humans, I fear one day it'll go too far to the point of of extinction
“Even crazier space dust”
only og's will understand
bob, oh bob :'( where r u
The sun is a deadly lazer
A bill wurtz reference!
"Not anymore there's a blanket"
Fascinatingly put across... The Earth and entire Universe is magnificently created... We have to be the CARETAKERS of all... African Proverb puts it so succinctly :
"Do not only worry about your children... worry about your children's children too.... "
UBUNTU : "I Am because YOU are..."
Fellow-feeling is essential in all we do...
Carl Sagan said all of this in 1980. Cosmos: A Personal Journey is the best television that our collective learning has produced. Sagan even made an apple pie to discuss the subatomic principles of chemistry, you need mushy eggs to do that...
Absolutely awesome presentation. Hopefully you can get your point across sooner than later. Thank you kindly.
the only real explanation of creation is in the bible.
Extraordinary way of building up to a very good point. I hope we can find ourselves continually perpetuating in such a volatile time.
What’s truly extraordinary is that nothing created something that is so complex that man can’t replicate it and to top it all off it’s all random, or meaningless.
I am very impressive with David Christian's lecture. It is eye-opening.
Hi 👋
Mush is a structure. CHAOS is an ILLUSION of the MIND. Order is like drawing a straight from 5 cards in a deck, mush is drawing unrelated cards. The deck has the same degree of organisation for both, its the human MIND that separates shapes it understands from those it doesn't.
Yes, it's like a chalkboard with long complex math equations viewed by an illiterate 7 year old child. When people don't understand something, they believe it doesn't make sense, it is illogical or random. If you zoom in on a wave file representing a song piece, it all looks like random waves going up and down, like a representation of an earthquake on a seismograph. Another example, if you speed up a video of a person dancing, it looks like the person is having random seizure attacks. I think in general what people call orderly is straight lines, or any shape that can be gotten from bending a straight line.
well there is also recognition of functional structure within certain patterns of energy and matter. maybe those are only recognized as such because of the bias of our bodies, but I think we'd be capable of objectively seeing function that could exist for other forms of life, and do so when observing extremophiles and the conditions in which they live. but maybe that is a more fundamental bias of the nature of our existence and we are incapable of understanding the value in different laws of physics in other universes or some form of consciousness that could exist in clouds of hydrogen and helium somehow. but if that is indeed the case, I'd wager it's only a matter of time until we can.
abcd efgh Yes, that's also likely why there's a sense of "objective morals", not because there is a god who arbitrarily set laws defining what's right and what's wrong, but because there's this certain "bias of the body", as you mention, that recognizes an "excellent" model of functioning, or an optimal structure that maximizes the processing of these energies (although the posterior result still remains occult). So, we don't know why life exists, we don't know the origins and we don't know the goals, but we can establish a "more correct" functioning nonetheless, by simply conceiving an ideological model of "well-being", which is precisely rated by the inherent corporal bias towards certain "energy patterns".
very, very interesting concept. Is it yours or where did you get it from?
A fine clear-sighted summary. I personally think that multicellular organisms could have been given greater weight. For two billion years life was stuck at unicellular level before, apparently, mitochondria fell inside of archaea and the resultant symbiosis prospered.
I think it's important too to consider what he said about collective learning being out of our control. Notice how influential large institutions are largely now a law unto themselves? The freedom of large corporations and intense global competition ensures that we will have no control over new AI, biotechnology, nanotechnology or quantum computing. Humans may only be a conduit for the Earth being able to send its material to other worlds before the Sun expands. This century looks like it will get harder as it goes.
I agree wholeheartedly, AlmostEthical. I don't remember him mentioning prokaryotes-to-eukaryotes either, FWIW.
I personally feel the video amounts to "preaching to the choir". There's nothing here to convince anyone of anything, it is "merely" a highly-informative (and perhaps inspirational?) presentation.
Powerful message at the end. It's been 11 years since this got uploaded, seems Humans haven't learnt much from the mistakes we are making. We are more close to self destruction than ever before.
May better sense prevails !
Totally agreed.... was about to post a very similar comment. Here we are today, on the verge of the third world war, where did our learning go>
That was easily the best TED talk Ive ever seen.
Simply put: That was awesome!
Thank you for a this informative and enlightening video 🌐
Theresa Squires:
**What was awesome and enlightening about this video, you care to share, Hmmm?
@@PEN-N-PAL
Sure
In my opinion it's awesomely informative to see the history of the world in 18 minutes....
@@theresasquirestheresa :
*So, the "18 minutes" is what made it awesome even though the content was far from reality? EH? The Scientific Community has created a deceptive mess and you applaud them. OK. They will never know, uncover or comprehend what they are seeking, futility is all that awaits them, this is already known and has been known. They are serving you as your High Priest and making you a prisoner of their brand of scientific theology made of unproven theories, this also is known. Science is going to need its version of the REFORMATION if it expects any credibility from the fictional nonsense they have been serving up to naive public.*
@@PEN-N-PAL
Well...
I appreciate your comment and somewhat agree with you
@@theresasquirestheresa You're awesome
I wish he added that for this collective learning to work, we need to stop spreading false information, triple-check our facts, do not claim validity of some if we are unsure, stop having opinions about eeeeverything and stop bloody lying so much.
Turn of your TVs, and watch more TED.
And commit the 'religious' to appropriate institutions.
Amen comrade!
JUST NOT THIS TED
The good thing about being able to get publicity for lying is, if we have the method, to be able to identify those who do it and take appropriate action such as ignoring or confronting. It's much more dangerous to have censorship and quietude.
I agree. Triple check our facts. I know the perfect source. Did you know that 500 years ago it was a fact that the earth was flat? If only those who inhabited the earth then had triple check their facts, They would’ve discovered that the Bible stated the earth was round thousands of years before Columbus sailed to the Americas and proved the Bible as accurate, infallible and the Word of God. Life really is that simple
One of the greatest talks I have ever heard, would still have my concentration if it were a bit longer..
You are one of the best story teller I have seen in youtube!
This man is a guru, and a heckuva great teacher! I'm uplifted & inspired... thanks, TED. 😃
6
This guy is a guru , saint and a sage of the modern times . He has evolved to such heights the priests of this world should stop their crap and learn from him . It is all energy , frequencies and vibrations of the universe that manifests the myriad expressions in matter that we all experience in this brief individual existence of ours .......just my take on this .... but then again ...... Enjoy the beautiful ride together with love and compassion and gratitude , hurtling across the universe and be STILL folks .
All of the content of this TED talk is common knowledge, you know. The speaker says nothing new.
His book is simply awesome tons of info with beautifully images, one of the best books you can get if interested in our history, where we came and formed to become this complexity.
What is the name of his book???
@@mehrozbaig8444 Big History by David Christian. You can get it on Amazon, very cheap for amazon prime.
It doesn't have the dynamic of a normal book, it has tons of information, each chapter talks about an specific subject, ( creation of the universe, how stars were made, how planets were made, each of those in different chapters,, etc) with awesome facts and quotes.
If ever there was nothing there still would be absolutely nothing. He doesn't explain where matter came from
@@kenkosch8546 No one can...
@@kenkosch8546 come on man hahah. We know nothing about ourselves and what surround us.
Big History. What a wonderful gift,
Our beautiful planet is not just threatened by man exploiting nature to the extent of destroying Goldilocks conditions. It is also threatened by man exploiting man to the extent that those exploited have reached a share equally or die threshold.
I love this expose, with many thanks!
Little after 13:15, he could just mention (as means of enhancing the spread of knowledge and information), these:
- the writing, with alphabets,
- philosophy,
- (then the cursive handwriting invented by Charlesmagne emperor),
- then the books printing, invented by Guttenberg,
- before computers and the net
nicely conceptualized. You've made a wonderful picture in my mind.
EXTRAORDINARY!!
Perhaps the best Ted talk I've ever seen. Very profound and enlightening
“Within closed systems” is part of that second law definition… but let’s conveniently ignore that so we have something to talk about
The amazing rate of scientific discovery; since that video was made, we found out that Gold is mostly formed in the collision of neutron stars, rather than in supernovae.
What has science discovered? All science does is observe laws that are there already and we put it in a way for us to understand and manipulate. We are not discovering anything if it exists already?
@@sherwynstalls9813 +1
@@sherwynstalls9813 Absurd. Don't confuse discover with create. One discovers what already exists.
@@Wayne-fe1ed Well said
Cue the black screen. Silence. Commentator: "...and then, BAM! The Big Bang occurs. Time begins, space begins, and then - BAM! - stars are born!" I wish I had known this explanation of how things began when I studied science in college. I could have aced every test, every equation, every question with ..."and then, BAM!" It makes perfect sense to me.
dennis.
A guy kisses a girl .... BAM! A human infant is made!
What do you expect from an 18 minute presentation? A deep examination of the competing theories about what, if anything, existed before the big bang and why it occurred, with commentary on the evidence and merits for each? Have you considered reading a book on the subject?
Dennis - The Emeril Theory; BAM! And there you are.
@Soviet Wanderer
No, I expect more than "magic". His entire presentation is predicated by the second law of thermo and then he violates it over and over.
Again with black holes... I will wait until a black hole is more than hypothetical.
Every single comment is applauding Mr Christian. is it that flawless?
This talk is up there with the greats. Timeless. Beautiful.
What a brilliantly well crafted talk
A marvellous presentation!! One of the best Ted Talks ever. Bravo!!
PURE GENIUS. THANK YOU ROBERT Q. RILEY (R.I.P.) FOR YOUR BRILLIANT SUGGESTION.
I'm always amazed at how often the phrase that something 'and suddenly appeared' How and why?
Quantum fluctuations in a relativistic foam of probability spawned from the Multi-Verse.
@@TIMEtoRIDE900 but where did that come from?
4:15 "Around us there's nothing" 4:30 "and suddenly a universe appears" lol
'something can not come from nothing '
The answer could be "I don't know" and the answer might also be "That is not a proper question." Asking why might not make sense.
How?
nine years ago. still absolutely relevant!
One little correction in his description of how dust clouds in space eventually form into solar systems including stars, planets and other bodies. It is not gravity that initially draws the small particles together, but rather it is electrostatic forces. They better explain how clouds of dust started condensing. Once enough of the space dust was thus pulled together, then gravity began to be a stronger force and caused the stars, planets and other bodies to be formed.
Jesus built this place!
There's a ton of "little corrections" throughout the video. I know he is limited on time, but he says all of this like it is fact with no room for error or disagreement, but in reality, most of it is likely not exactly like he says. Like do we really think that it is possible for everything in all of the universes fit inside something that was smaller than an atom. Come on ... there is no evidence of that and it is not at all practical.
@@phillycheesesteak36 Cosmic microwave background is the proof you ask for.
@@googleuser3173 Interesting. I will look into this more. I have a chemistry background, so I cannot wrap my head around the fact that there was matter but no atoms/elements?? Matter has to be made of something, but it wasn't until the universe expanded did their become atoms, but there was really dense and hot stuff that magickly got there. I just can't see it all, but I am interested in this CMB radiation.
@@kimsand53 Just because concepts are hard to understand, doesn't mean we should create very simple alternative answers to fill in for them..
Excelente talk. The perfection of the complexity that made us what we are. I would’ve given him one more minute so he could’ve started a minute before “nothing”
Not a religious nut, but I have some questions.
Where did all that "bam" come from at 4:28?
How did all the matter gather together to create the "bam?"
If there was nothing before the "bam," what exploded?
How is it we know those answers?
If an object is spinning in one direction and it explodes, the pieces which break off would spin in the same direction.
Why do we observe moons, planets, solar systems, galaxies spinning in all kinds of directions relative to Earth?
If a hand grenade explodes in a field, can the exploded pieces ever collide in mid air or do they get progressively further apart?
Like I said, I'm not a religious nut. I do however think it's unfair to label people who ask questions like this a Bible thumper. There's a breakdown in the scientific method when it becomes okay to ask how things happened but not okay to inquire as to if they even happened.
The explanation in this video is a bit oversimplified, i'll try to explain what science know today about birth of our universe to the best of my ability.
First, the best word to use is not "explosion" but "expansion", since in current theory about origin of universe it expanded from singularity (a location with infinite density and zero volume) after Plank's time (10^-37 seconds) at exponential rate. It is known by analyzing cosmic microwave background and light that is coming from other stars (google redshift on wiki to get more information about this phenomena) and building models which can explain data found from this. Before Plank's time our current understanding of the laws of nature breaks down and now the most honest answer about nature of singularity is that we don't know much about it (though there are a couple of hypothesis, of course).
About people asking questions, there is no "breakdown" like you described in scientific method and it always okay to ask questions (that was science is about after all). It's just some people get angry or impatient when people ask questions about something without seeking what our current scientific understanding of what we know about this phenomena. Sometimes people even misinterpret (some deliberate, some not) what science say about this phenomena and start to say that science is wrong, and this is often happens in discussions about evolution theory for example. So people usually say "Bible thumper" about someone who didn't bother to read any scientific literature and just repeat misconceptions that he was told, also most such people are very unoriginal about it and hearing same question over and over can be...well, frustrating.
I hope my answers were satisfactory, if you have any other question, i'll be glad to answer them
Kim Katsu
Excellent reply! My compliments.
*****
Well, now i know. Also, english is a third language for me and i don't understand what does knowing how to spell certain names in it have to do with understanding scientific concepts.
*****
Typos don't bother me too much. Everyone makes a mistake now and then - even you, I suspect.
Names aren't the important thing here, anyway. It was an excellent comment, don't you think? Why criticize it on something so petty?
Wow, you two need to take it down a notch and grow up. I do however understand why you are both so upset. In my experience these conversations inevitably mutate into a science vs. religion debate. Like with all mutations, non-are beneficial. My contention is that this is an argument between religion and religion. How else could we explain how easily tempers get flared? I prefaced my initial questions by saying, “I’m not a religious nut,” yet someone still found it expedient to ask me where God came from…did they miss something? I should however further preface my position by saying while I may not be a religious nut, that shouldn’t be interpreted that I don’t believe the Bible and the scientific observations it contains. My position is that I find no contradiction between all the Biblical accounts and science when the scientific method is applied.
Meanwhile my initial question is still standing unanswered. Are we the scientific community somehow ignorant of what happened before Planck time?
The origin debate is always a religious one. What I mean by origin is the point or place where someone or something begins or is derived from. It takes a certain amount of faith to believe in creation and as well as an event like the BIG bang or the captain Crunch theory or whatever they’re calling it these days. My point it this. Even using techniques like trigonometric-parallax, which calculates distance; it’s still calculating distance and not time. A light year is not a measurement of time it’s a measurement of distance.
I made up my own measurement of distance and it’s called a Michael Minute. It’s the measurement of how far the super market is from my house in relation to how long it takes for me to run there. The distance to the store has remained the same but the time it takes me has increased, as I’ve gotten progressively more and more out of shape.
It’s said that trig parallax is only viable up to about 100 light years (and that’s stretching it…pun intended). The reason for this is angles are indecipherable at anything past that distance. Picture a triangle with the base being represented as a straight line. Using the solar diameter of earth’s orbit as the base for our triangle while earth is on either side of the sun, that base would be 16 light minutes across. If we were to look out into space only 1 light year from that base, it would be the equivalent to having two guys on top of your house 16 inches apart from each other looking at a point 8.5 miles away. That would make a tremendously skinny triangle.
So to say the something like, “we can look into a telescope and accurately determine how old the universe is,” is really an act of faith. Most scientists agree that the universe is expanding, and it may be, however, even if it is expanding that still doesn’t proves it’s billions of years old. To suggest that it is, is an interpretation of the observation of red shift. To assume that rate of expansion (aka, the frequency of light) has always remained a constant is a faith based assumption.
Let’s try some logic, it’s accepted that the moon is slipping away from the earth's gravitational field by 1.5 inches a year. That may or may not be true. However, if that rate has remained that same, do the math, where would that place the moon a million years ago, forget 14 billion?
Some interpret the observation of red shift as a way to prove that the universe is expanding, and some interpret it as (tired light). Photons of light from distant galaxies have a longer wavelength on arrival than when they set off. For a particular wavelength, galaxies twice as far away undergo twice the increase in wavelength. This is the experimental evidence; the rest is down to how scientists interpret these results. As the frequency reduces the wavelength increases and thus the photons are red-shifted. Photons of light from galaxies twice as far away travel twice as far through the intergalactic medium, undergo twice as many collisions with the electrons, lose twice as much energy, have their frequency reduced by twice as much and their wavelength increased by twice as much. Hence galaxies twice as far away have twice the redshift. Doesn't this make more sense than an expanding universe stretching the photons?
The universe is probably billions of light years wide if not more, however it’s hocused pocus to say we can measure those distances using trig parallax. We also don’t know that the speed of light has remained a constant. At MIT a few years ago they slowed down light to zero miles per hour.
In order to determine an age for the universe by these methods one would need to “know” what the furthest point in the universe is and then “know” that it’s getting further away and then “know” that the rate it’s moving away has always been the same, and then “know” that the light’s wavelength is the same in our telescope lenses as it was at it’s point of origin Those are a lot of unknowns and because they’re unknown anyone who speaks about them as if they’re science is no different than the people who believe that the earth was created in six literal days. The only difference between those people that I’m aware of is that one claims to be the voice of science by condemning anything outside of their indoctrinated worldview. I call someone who believes in the BIG bang “indoctrinated” because that is the only side that’s ever been explained (scientifically) to them. If all you’ve ever heard is one side of the argument you’d be foolish to call your understanding of the topic education, it could most aptly be characterized as indoctrination.
Education tends to be biased and always in favor of politics. If you were a professor at a university in Soviet Russia during the 1950's and you stood up and said, "I think communism is bad, I think capitalism is right," you would at least be fired, and in all actuality probably executed for treason. Sound familiar? Question- what would happen to the professor of a science class if he/she decided not to teach the BIG bang theory? Answer… they would be fired for sure, and quite possibly labeled an intellectual pariah, (so they get with the program and teach the material, any sane “normal” person would). However, just because something is taught doesn’t make it a fact. (Flat earth, sun moves around the earth, bloodletting, macro-evolution etc.).
This video does a good job of showing the greatness of God and His creativity.
You know that it doesn't. You can try to convince yourself that it does , but you're just a religious nut trying to bring people that think for themselves down to your level. Go put your hands together and talk to yourself.
Eru Illuvatar Correction: I know that it does.
And I'll take your religious nut comment as a compliment.
Matt R There's a reason your idiotic beliefs are banned from being taught in schools. What do you think that reason is? Why do you think evolution is taught over intelligent design?
Eru Illuvatar Because people hate God.
Matt R I am against teaching children in schools that Santa Claus exists.
Do I hate Santa Claus?
18 minutes of my life I will never get back...
Grim Fandango - don’t fret over it. You would have accomplished nothing if you had been able to get the 18 minutes back.
but the stuff you learned in that 18 minutes will stay for ever.
You will never get back a single minute of your life ....
I use this video as thesis reference that we are as a human are collectively gathering information to adapt. My professor applause me.